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Raine replied to the topic Monthly competition – January 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years, 8 months ago
Nice one, @athelstone 🙂 I want this to be part of something bigger!
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JaneShuff replied to the topic Monthly competition – January 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years, 8 months ago
Thank you all! I am looking forward to readying them. I am out most of today so results will be posted this evening.
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Athelstone replied to the topic Monthly competition – January 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years, 8 months ago
‘You don’t have a future, not really,’ said Gregor. He shifted his bones on the stone floor making his chains rattle.
‘Ah,’ said the philosopher, at length, ‘you’re one of those Zenonians. A Stoic I suppose. You imagine that because we can never sufficiently divide the instant we call the present, then it must be an illusion, as is the future. A…[Read more]
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Raine replied to the topic Monthly competition – January 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years, 8 months ago
Just reading through these, and much fun it is. 🙂 Thank-you all for brightening up my lunch break.
@johnalty – that sneaky wee twist made me laugh. 😀
@sandradavies – erk!! Love the ‘not fat – not quite – not yet’ line, instant image of the man!
@seagreen – wow, hard and powerful, and I am totally siding with her!
@libby – impressive world…[Read more] -
Raine posted an update 6 years, 9 months ago
Do I win the prize for latest monthly comp entry, or will someone slip under the wire and steal my dubious honour?
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Raine replied to the topic Monthly competition – January 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years, 9 months ago
OK, late and rather unedited entry, soz! Content warning for miscarriage.
Tomorrow I Will Rise.
Tomorrow I will rise. I will smile and talk with friends and I will be braver than I am today. Tomorrow I will rise. Next week I will laugh. Next month, next month I will bleed.
Today, I count your futures, each possible thread, each vine and…[Read more]
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Raine posted an update 6 years, 9 months ago
Ok, so I have just sent off A Thing. So am freeeee. MOnthly comp and MA course on the agenda… 🙂
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Well done! What’s the thing, if you don’t mind my asking?
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Ah well, nothing now, apparently. Was revised version of TIOU that publisher requested. But they’ve replied saying they’ve closed their list.
Hey ho. Would have been nice if they’d told me.-
Back in the bin I go.
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Oh FFS! That is utterly shitty and so unprofessional! Surely if they requested it you bypass their closed list status? My agent had closed her lists when I sent her the thing she’d requested a year earlier and she still took it. That is RUBBISH and I am furious on your behalf.
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Do they know it’s the thing they requested? I mean it wasn’t just a standard response?
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No, they know. I replied to their last email saying ‘don’t worry if it takes a few months. We’re not going anywhere.’…
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Well that sucks massively. What a shabby performance
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That is utter crap! Seriously unfair.
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Seriously unprofessional too, imo
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Agree 100%
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I would say unbelievable, but – sadly – I can believe it. It is truly appalling behaviour that wouldn’t be tolerated in most professions. It is no surprise that so many people, good writers, are turning to self-pub. I’m so sorry, Raine. Can you name the guilty? Quite understand if you don’t want to.
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RichardB replied to the topic New historical fiction novella in the forum Podium 6 years, 9 months ago
And bloody good it is too. Highly recommended. Well done.
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Amanda Berriman (Skylark) replied to the topic Dipping my toe back in in the forum Blogs 6 years, 9 months ago
@squidge hello! Great to hear the Tilda series is progressing. I’ve got the first one in the queue for bedtime reading to the boys and can’t wait to see how it’s evolved from when I first read it years ago on the Cloud. I think I missed that there as going to be a remake of David Copperfield as well. I see most films at our community cinema club…[Read more]
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Amanda Berriman (Skylark) replied to the topic Dipping my toe back in in the forum Blogs 6 years, 9 months ago
@kazg yes, how I will laugh! I came across my very, very first shitty draft a year or so ago and it was quite something. Good to see how far I’ve come, at least!
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Amanda Berriman (Skylark) replied to the topic Dipping my toe back in in the forum Blogs 6 years, 9 months ago
@philippaeast Hello Philippa!! Good to see you too. I’m not sure I’m at the elbow-grease point yet. Mostly shovelling all the words into various sorting piles while scratching my head and wondering when the novel will apppear. But it’s all good. Ideas firing off all over the place. How’s it all going at your end? So excited for you. Are you not…[Read more]
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JaneShuff replied to the topic Monthly competition – January 2020 in the forum Monthly Competition 6 years, 9 months ago
Just a quick reminder that you have until Friday midnight to get your entries for this month’s competition (around 400 words on the theme of The Future interpreted in any way you wish). I know some of you, like me, are fighting to finish your entries for the Winter Competition but can I tempt those of you who are sitting back and basking in the…[Read more]
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Sandra posted an update 6 years, 9 months ago
“Why I write” – excellent piece by Emma Darwin to be found here: https://slowculture.eu/2020/01/23/why-i-write-vol-15-emma-darwin-holland-house-books/?fbclid=IwAR14kjZ9Q4U1G3vwQK39IJ83x21FIyG-Nyu1H6PCQ2DXQ2p2Y10EMtXPIVY
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Thanks, Sandra. I must buy one of Emma’s books. I keep meaning to.
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Her ‘Not a book about -‘ is excellent on the difficulties of writing, and ‘The Mathematics of love’ one I aim to re-read annually. Time I re-read the other one …
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Shame on me, I haven’t read either of the novels, but yes, ‘Not a Book About…’ is excellent. And in this blog Emma, as usual, hits the nail on the head. That last bit, ‘To Be Heard’… yes, absolutely. After I resigned myself to ‘A faint hope of being read, maybe just a silly dream, but still…’ becoming ‘No hope’ my motivation drained away.
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Amanda Berriman (Skylark) replied to the topic Dipping my toe back in in the forum Blogs 6 years, 9 months ago
@raine Hello! Yes, I think I’ve solved it, though it would help if everyone could just accept that in the first few chapters of my novel, Thursday becomes Friday without anyone sleeping 😀
@kazg Hello to you too! I’m feeling a bit of second book pressure, mainly because Home had the USP of a child’s voice and this one doesn’t have that so I’m…[Read more]
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Amanda Berriman (Skylark) replied to the topic Brexit dismay in the forum Coffee Shop 6 years, 9 months ago
@libby I didn’t for a long time (esp with Twitter) and now I have, it’s hard to switch off from it as it is addictive. But I think I’m learning to manage it better to get the best bits out of it without the worst bits dragging me down.
@janeshuff I’m sorry you and your family have been through a similar thing. It does change everything. I hope…[Read more]
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Raine replied to the topic Dipping my toe back in in the forum Blogs 6 years, 9 months ago
Hello @skylark my lovely. Great to see you venturing back in. I’m not a big presence here, but I do love being able to come in and know I’ll find friends. Hope the second draft continuity glitch is resolving itself. Who needs continuity anyway? I think most things temporal should be banned from novels. Really, why do days of the week need to…[Read more]
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Raine replied to the topic Brexit dismay in the forum Coffee Shop 6 years, 9 months ago
The Brexit Blues. Ugh. Yes. And the Climate Change existential fear. And the daughter-entering-teen-sexual-harrassment-age dread. I tell you, grown men eyeing up a twelve year old girl makes me very VERY stabby.
But, yes, Brexit and the fundamental damage to our society that seems to have come about have had (are having) an effect on my general…[Read more] -
JaneShuff replied to the topic Brexit dismay in the forum Coffee Shop 6 years, 9 months ago
It must have been an awful time @skylark. We have been through a similar experience with our youngest grandson and it has changed everything particularly for his mum. But how wonderful that both you and @daedalus found writing helped.
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Amanda Berriman (Skylark) replied to the topic Brexit dismay in the forum Coffee Shop 6 years, 9 months ago
I know that Brexit and politics in general has had an impact on my writing because I found myself getting more and more sucked into arguing on Facebook and Twitter and that, I have come to realise, is the worse kind of political discussion because there is never any nuance. It is all so polarised. But I found it hard to switch off from and it…[Read more]
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JaneShuff replied to the topic Dipping my toe back in in the forum Blogs 6 years, 9 months ago
You have got the premise right @Libby although I don’t think the two soldiers are despatch drivers. To me it just came across as unlikely that only two low ranking soldiers would be sent to cross miles of dangerous territory with no particular plan and little chance of success but maybe it was supposed to show how useless, confused and uncaring…[Read more]
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